Amos 3:7, 8 Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. Surely the Lord God will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets, etc. These words mean that although punishment for the guilty Israelites was natural, arranged, and withal Divine, yet it would come according to a warning made to them through the prophets, and which these would feel compelled to deliver. The words suggest two remarks. I. GOD HAS MADE A SPECIAL REVELATION TO HIS SERVANTS. "He revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." In all ages God has selected men to whom he has made communications of himself. In times past he spake unto the fathers by the prophets. In truth, he makes special revelations of himself to all true men. "Shall I hide from Abraham the thing that I do?" "The secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant." God has given to all men a general revelation. In nature without and within, in the material domain, and in the spiritual. But he makes a special revelation to some. The Bible is indeed a special revelation. 1. Special in its occasion. It is made on account of the abnormal moral condition into which man has fallen - made in consequence of human sin and its dire consequences. Had there been no sin, in all probability we should have had no written revelation. The great book of nature would have sufficed. 2. Special in its doctrines The grand characteristic truth is this - that God so loved men as sinners that he gave his only begotten Son for their redemption. This is the epitome of the gospel, II. THAT THE RIGHT RECEPTION OF THIS SPECIAL REVELATION NECESSITATES PREACHING. "The lion hath roared, who will not fear? the Lord God hath spoken, who can but prophesy?" The idea is that the men who have rightly taken the truth into them can no more conceal it than men can avoid terror at the roar of the lion. There are some truths which men may receive and feel no disposition to communicate, such as the truths of abstract science, which have no relation to the social heart. But gospel truths have such a relation to the tenderest and profoundest affections of the spirit, that their genuine recipients find them to be irrepressible. They feel like Jeremiah, that they have fire shut up in their bones; like the apostles before the Sanhedrin, "We cannot but speak the things that we have seen and heard;" like Paul, "Necessity is laid upon me to preach the gospel." "Who can but prophesy?" None but those who have not received the truth. - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets.WEB: Surely the Lord Yahweh will do nothing, unless he reveals his secret to his servants the prophets. |
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